I didn't know I was a slave until I found out I couldn't do the things I wanted

I didn't know I was a slave until I found out I couldn't do the things I wanted

I would not have a slave to till my ground,
To carry me, to fan me while I sleep,
read more

I would not have a slave to till my ground,
To carry me, to fan me while I sleep,
And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth
That sinews bought and sold have ever earn'd.

In thinking of America, I sometimes find myself admiring her bright blue sky-her grand old woods-her fertile fields-her beautiful rivers-her read more

In thinking of America, I sometimes find myself admiring her bright blue sky-her grand old woods-her fertile fields-her beautiful rivers-her mighty lakes and star-crowned mountains. But my rapture is soon checked when I remember that all is cursed with the infernal spirit of slave-holding and wrong; When I remember that with the waters of her noblest rivers, the tears of my brethren are borne to the ocean, disregarded and forgotten; That her most fertile fields drink daily of the warm blood of my outraged sisters, I am filled with unutterable loathing.

And ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves,
While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls read more

And ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves,
While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.

I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave
and half free.

I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave
and half free.

They are slaves who fear to speak
For the fallen and the weak;
. . . .
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They are slaves who fear to speak
For the fallen and the weak;
. . . .
They are slaves who dare not be
In the right with two or three.

In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the
free,--honorable alike in what we give and what read more

In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the
free,--honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve.

The air of England has long been too pure for a slave, and every
man is free who breathes read more

The air of England has long been too pure for a slave, and every
man is free who breathes it.

Lord Mansfield first established the grand doctrine that the air
of England is too pure to be breathed by read more

Lord Mansfield first established the grand doctrine that the air
of England is too pure to be breathed by a slave.